I Think My Kiddo Has Head Lice

You should not treat with chemicals unless you KNOW it's lice. I have heard that lice are becoming resistant to the treatment b/c of this (heard this from an MD). Also, lice do not fly. They only crawl...

Lice do not have wings.

I'm a veterinarian and I can tell you with certainty dogs and cats do not harbor human lice.

Next time you see a bug, save it and show it to your pediatrician. You can place it on the sticky side of clear tape to preserve it.

HTH...

Oh man, I went to Google this for you and now I'm itching like a FIEND! haha...

The Mayo Clinic site describes the lice as wingless, so I don't think that's it unless it's actually hatching/newly hatched from the egg, which can be white/clear.

There are some great sites w/info about this:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/head-lice/DS00953

http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/common/head_lice....

Good luck! They're harmless, but definitely a pain.

The robi comb is a hand held that 'zaps' the bug (but does not remove the nit). It does not work if the hair is wet, or if the device is wet from sterilizing it. Either dry it with a hair dryer, or wait an hour and use it again. This is good for weekly preventative maintenance.

A friend of mine is a pharmacist and she did a continuing education segment on lice. This is what she recommended for the cetaphil treatment:

Here's the link
http://nuvoforheadlice.com/
The NuvoR Method for Head Lice Using CetaphilR Cleanser

Each treatment application has three main steps.

Apply the wet lotion throughout the scalp.

Comb out as much excess lotion as possible.

Use a blow dryer to dry your child's hair. This dries the lotion on the
scalp, and coats any lice in a shrink-wrap-like layer. The dry lotion must
remain on the hair and scalp for at least 8 hours. Usually parents leave it
in place until the child's usual bath or shower the next day.

The course of treatment consists of 3 applications done at one week
intervals.

What you will need for one application.

A large bath towel

CetaphilR Gentle Skin Cleanser (8 oz for short hair, 12 oz for
shoulder-length or longer hair) Click here for picture.

A new 8 oz condiment dispenser

A regular pocket comb

If your child has long hair, you should also get a wide-toothed detangler
comb

If you want to remove nits, a LicemeisterR comb

How to apply the lotion-- detailed instructions.

Cover your child's shoulders with a big dry bath towel to catch the lotion
which will drip from the scalp.

To boost your cure rate you must cover all the lice with lotion. We advise
you to apply so much lotion that it literally overflows the totally soaked
scalp and drips off onto the towel.

Pour 8 oz of Cetaphil into the condiment dispenser.

Step 1. Begin with dry hair. Start at the left of the scalp. Make sure the
nozzle is always touching the skin. Apply the lotion zigzag back and forth
from front to back and then back to front. Apply to the entire scalp as you
move forward until you reach the front of the scalp. Use 1/4 of the bottle.

Actual Cetaphil Cleanser is a translucent pearly liquid which is not visible once dried on scalp.

Step 2. Now start at the back of the scalp. Again make sure the nozzle is
always touching the skin. Change the direction of your zigzagging
application now to "criss cross" the first pattern. Move zigzag front to
back then back to front as you move from the right side to the left side of
the scalp . Use again 1/4 of a bottle always touching the scalp with the
bottle nozzle.

Step 3. Use your fingers to thoroughly massage the lotion throughout the
scalp and hair.

Step 4. Redo steps 1, 2, and 3. Use up another 1/2 bottle of lotion. You
now have used a whole bottle of the lotion.

Step 5. Does your child have long hair that reaches to the upper back? Then apply another 1/2 bottle of lotion to that large amount of hair from roots
to tips and massage in thoroughly with your fingers.

Step 6. Wait 2 minutes for lotion to act.

Step 7. Comb out the lotion. You should seek to comb out as much excess
Cetaphil lotion as possible. You are done when you can't get out any more
lotion. The more you get out, the quicker will be the blow drying step which
comes next. You may choose to first use a "detangler comb" if the hair is
long or thick. Otherwise you can just start with the plain comb.

Step 8. If you need to remove nits to comply with your school's "no nit
policy," then use the LicemeisterR comb to carefully go through the entire
scalp. It will remove many nits. If your child's school does not have such a
policy, then skip this step. It adds 70% more work and is unnecessary to
cure children of head lice.

Step 9. Blow dry the hair thoroughly, so that the scalp skin, hair roots,
and full length of the hair are totally dry. You may use a detangler comb
and/or your fingers to make the drying process easier. Anticipate that this
will takes 3 times longer than drying hair that is just wet with water.

Step 10. You may style the hair now with a sterilized comb and/or brush.
Please do not apply any styling gel, mousse, hair spray, or other cosmetic
products to the hair while the dried Cetaphil lotion is on the hair.

Step 11. Leave the dried lotion on the child's head for at least 8 hours,
preferably overnight.

Step 12. To remove the lotion at the end of the treatment phase, you just
shampoo with your usual shampoo, cream rinses, etc.

Recommended household clean-up

The three clean up steps should be done once a week at the time of the
weekly treatment.

Sterilize all the family's combs and brushes. You can choose one of two
methods. You may soak the combs and brushes in isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol for 10 minutes or you may put them in the dishwasher on the full hot
cleaning cycle.

Treat all bedding at the time of each lotion application. Take all sheets,
pillow cases, blankets, comforters, and bedspreads from the beds in your
house and run them in the dryer for 10 minutes on high temperature. Then put the bedding back on beds. You do not have to wash it.

Patients should change to new fresh clothes after each treatment. Put dirty
clothes in the laundry hamper for later laundering.

A Final Caution

To achieve cure, it is important to follow the directions carefully. We
have seen the treatment fail when parents do not follow instructions. Avoid
these four common mistakes:

a) Parents skimp on amount of Cetaphil Cleanser used.

You must use precisely the amount recommended in the detailed instructions or you will fail to coat all the lice with lotion. An uncoated louse will survive the treatment and may go on to reproduce. This is especially
important for children with shoulder length or longer hair. You must
remember to add an extra half bottle because of the long hair.

b) Parents apply the lotion incorrectly to the scalp.

Sometimes parents just squirt it on top of the hair and try to massage it
in. This is NOT the way we explain in the instructions. You must achieve a
uniform coverage of the entire scalp to be effective. It is critical to be
touching the scalp with the nozzle the entire time you apply the lotion. The
"criss cross" pattern of application assures even, complete coverage.

c) Parents do not completely dry the lotion on the scalp.

You must dry the scalp so that it is totally dry. The lotion works by drying
onto the louse and plugging up its breathing holes. If you leave the scalp
and hair partly wet then the lotion can be accidentally rubbed off when your
child changes his shirt, lies down on his pillow, rubs his hair, or lies on
the carpet or couch. By thoroughly drying the lotion in the scalp, the
lotion adheres to the lice and kills them.

d) The timing between the applications is wrong.

You must use the treatment in three applications done at one-week intervals. The dried lotion kills lice and disrupts their life cycle. If you wait too long for the next application, then baby lice can grow into adults and lay
eggs and continue the cycle.

Questions?

If you have questions, please go to our Frequently Asked Questions page.

We regret that we cannot answer individual e-mail questions. However, if
you feel at your question has not been answered on our web site, please send
an e-mail to ____@____.com time to time, we will be
posting the answers to additional FAQs.

Just to reiterate what others are saying: lice do not have wings.

It is easier to see nits on dry hair. A good place to check is around and behind ears and along the neckline. When they first get established, they like these places. You could try buying a nit comb at a drug store and comb it through your daughter's wet hair to see if you turn anything up--nits or lice.

Even if you don't turn anything up, keep checking regularly. Lice can spread so quickly through a class.

Been through this with both my kids and myself--twice! Ugh. We used a product that is like an oil and without insecticide. You spread it on the hair and comb, comb, comb, comb, comb. It is laborious, but very effective.

Hi,

Yup, I'm itching!! LOL!

You should make sure it is not sand. Since a note went home about head lice from school, they may do a check on all the kids in her class. This happened in my daughter's class. They will let you know if they find it. What you could do if you are still not sure is what my friend did for her daughter when there was a lice outbreak. She bought a lice/nit comb and the cetaphil liquid soap (it might be face wash). She wet her daughter's hair and then after she towel dried it, she put the cetaphil into her hair and started to run the comb through it. She actually found lice! So, then she went to the store (or sent her hubby) and started the treatment. She did this cetaphil thing first because if her daughter didn't have lice then she did not want to put the chemicals into her hair. I hope this helps you find out. The other thing I have been told is lice do not like dirty hair. So, each morning before school my girls shower and wash their hair. After they dry it I lightly spray it with hair spray. We call it "time to dirty it up".

Good luck!

I would think if it were lice she'd be totally infested by now if you saw the first one a month ago (like you could see them crawling on her scalp). Lice don't have wings, they crawl. And they look kind of gray. Get a magnifying glass and a really strong lamp and look through her hair well for nits. Yes you would see them on dry (or wet) hair. They can look like dandruff, but if you pull at them they are pretty tighly attached to the hair shaft. (you really need a super strong light to look for these)

Also if this is lice, cats don't get human lice. So you don't have to worry about the cat.

i would treat her head with nit to be safe and spray and wash EVERYTHING and boil all brushes and combs and get all new hair things for her

lice are hard to see, the nits are white they look like dandruff but stick to the hair and are hard to remove.

I thought my oldest had licea nd treated him and it was sand make sure its lice first you should see bags on the hair if its lice they are called nits

if the cetiphil doesnt do it, use the over counter NIT treatment and buy a nit comb from amazon.com (the one that comes with the NIT is useless). Comb through nightly to get the nits out. Get her hair cut if necessary. Be very religious of getting the nits out...it tooks us months to be done with this. I cut the girls hair very short, combed everyday and did two treatments of the nit. put all stuffed animals in garbage bags for a while and do laundry on hot water and hot dry.